Research Library

The collective trauma of the Covid-19 pandemic may provide a clearer understanding of why people use drugs — to help us see it not as a moral failing or a brain malfunction, but as a fundamentally human response to negative life events. Read more at the Baker Institute Blog.

Public health and economic measures enacted to prevent the spread of Covid-19 and mitigate the financial impact on families have unintended consequences for low-income women and their children. The authors explain why.

An increasing number of lawful permanent U.S. residents from Mexico could lose access to their U.S. social security contributions as a result of deportation.

Fellow Joyce Beebe analyzes the evolving landscape of crowdfunding and considers the tax treatment of funds generated through platforms like GoFundMe and Kickstarter.

The authors examine recent trends in vaping, research on its effectiveness for smoking cessation, the role of industry marketing and policy responses to increased use.

Mexico’s government should prioritize early childhood education, but its decision to reduce the budget and replace a childhood centers program for the disadvantaged indicates it does not, writes graduate fellow Daniel Prudencio.

The author reviews the evolution of labor and environmental rights in U.S. free trade agreements and evaluates such provisions in the USMCA.

Fellow Joyce Beebe summarizes the evolution of the marriage penalty in the U.S. tax system, its magnitude and impact on couples’ work and marital decisions, and how the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act of 2017 changes the marriage penalty for different income and age groups.

The Tax Cuts and Jobs Act of 2017 placed a $10,000 limit on the amount of state and local taxes taxpayers may deduct on their federal income tax returns. In this report, public finance fellow Joyce Beebe examines the pros and cons of the limit and state-level efforts to circumvent the cap.

Measuring the costs of corruption around the world is challenging due to varying definitions of corruption, the invisibility of many corrupt acts, and the subjectivity of perceptions. In this research paper, postdoctoral research fellow Jose I. Rodriguez-Sanchez explores the difficulties of measuring corruption in Mexico.